Regrettably, this is our last full day in the Black Hills area. Peggy and I have both fallen in love with the scenery here and the abundance of animals roaming around is amazing. Today we took a short drive up county road 858 to Warren Mountain in the Black Hills National Forest just north of our base in Sundance and returned via the long route down Highways 116 and 585. The views were great and we saw one kestrel, some meadowlarks, a few bluebirds, about 10 deer and not less than 200 pronghorn antelope. We also got to meet Max, the Warren Mountain fire watch tower lady’s pooch who stays in her pickup during her shift because he is not comfortable climbing the eight flights of steel mesh stairs into the tower. The elevation of Warren Mountain, if you don’t climb into the tower, is 6666′. The view from the top of the mountain is superb. I suppose that’s why they put the tower up there.
After our short drive and a fuel stop, we returned to the Invader to do the dreaded laundry, dump the waste tanks, top off our water reserves and generally prepare for our departure tomorrow. We have what we consider a very long drive tomorrow (300+ miles) and need to get out of here early to get into the Cheyenne area prior to dark.
This part of northeastern Wyoming is absolutely stunning to look at although I imagine in a few months it may still be beautiful but it will also be minus 20 degrees outside and we certainly do not want to be here for that. I am extremely wimpy in weather below about 50F. Some might say I am wimpy all the time but they are liars, according to me.